A restaurant's rating is usually the average of everyone who reviewed it. But a place that serves genuinely fiery food gets dragged down by people who don't like heat, and lifted by people who do. The average tells you what the crowd thought. It doesn't tell you what you'd think.
The quiz asks five things: how much heat you want, how sweet you like food, how salty, how adventurous you are, and whether you prefer dishes adapted to local tastes or made the traditional way. Each is a number from 1 to 10. Together they describe your palate as five coordinates.
When you look at a restaurant, we compare your five numbers against the five numbers of everyone who reviewed it. Reviewers whose palate sits close to yours count heavily. Reviewers far from you count very little. The score you see is the weighted result — the same reviews, read through your preferences.
A weighted score needs several reviews to mean anything. Restaurants with fewer than three show 'Not enough reviews yet' rather than a number we can't stand behind.
We store your email, your five taste numbers, and any reviews you write. Reviews are shown without your account attached to them. They are not fully anonymous, though — because matching needs each reviewer's taste numbers, reviews sharing an identical taste profile can be recognised as coming from the same person.